Breaking The Trend
by softly-sofly-massacre-monkey
Summary: When Hal and Tom come across an unusual girl, smelling of wolf, but radiating the heat and life of a human, Hal is perplexed. Maggie claims to be searching for her brother, and Tom is all too willing to help, but Hal doesn't trust her. She's a Murdoch, a strange line of werewolves thought to have died out decades ago, yet here she stands. Hal wonders who will kill the other first.
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

It was dark that night. Darker than she'd expected, quicker than she'd expected it. Not that it mattered. The Night was Maggie Murdoch's playground, the evils of the dark her prey. She wasn't afraid. Only one thing frightened her, and it wasn't coming for weeks. Tonight was a night for work; swift staking and moving on. Maybe she'd find one in their house tonight. Maybe she could steal some food. They wouldn't need it when they were dead; proper dead, and she was starved.

Throwing the last of her food into the backpack, along with her many weapons, she zipped it shut and dropped it on the floor. Crossing the single room of the small wooden hut, she pulled the dark hooded jumper over her head, her sneakers making no noise as she moved.  
She was calm. This had been her life for nearly a decade now, but still something was lacking. She _thought_ she knew what that was; the thing she'd been seeking for months now, to no avail. Maggie was rarely wrong. But there was a first for everything.

She wondered if she would return home tonight. She wondered this every night. With a job like hers, there could be no promises. There was always a risk, however small. It was always there, niggling in the back of her mind.

She wondered if they wondered. Did they ever question their mortality? Sure, they would not die naturally, they didn't age, but did they leave their homes to feed, and wonder if they would return? Did they worry for the people who needed them to come home, who depended on them?

No. Monsters did not worry. They thought of only themselves. Thought only of the hunger.

That's what Damien had always said. But Maggie wasn't sure anymore. Could a mad man be wise? Perhaps. There was a first for everything.  
She pulled the hood up over her head, throwing her backpack over her shoulder, and stakes at the ready, she moved out. It was time to kill some monsters of the night.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Tom?" Hal said through his teeth. "I'm not sure they're going to listen to you."

Hal and Tom stood in a dimly lit car park behind an abandoned supermarket. Surrounding them in a large, open circle, were twelve young, stupid vampires. Hal knew they should fear him, but they were ignorant fools. No one had taught them of the vampire world outside of Barry. They knew nothing but thirst. Thirst and anger, and he and Tom were the perfect targets.

"Well, I don't see us getting out of here any other way, do you?" Tom hissed back.

"Allison would've been apalled."

"Allison's not here, Hal," Tom said. "We gotta look out for each other now. "Fine," Hal sighed, just as the "leader" of the group took a step forward "This is your

last chance," he told Hal. "Are you going to give us the dog or not?"

"Not."

Tom and Hal braced themselves.

"So be it," the blonde vampire said, and just as he indicated for his group to move closer, and Tom and Hal readied themselves for a fight, there was a thud, and a big, thuggish looking vampire fell to the ground, face first.

They looked around them fervently, as the night's silence was broken by a cry of pain from a girl as a stake protruded from her chest.

"What on earth...?" Hal whispered, as he and Tom both spotted the attacker. A young girl was shooting around the carpark, punching and kicking and staking, as if she'd been doing it her whole life. Hal sniffed. He smelt werewolf, and it wasn't Tom. A spinning kick here, a punch to the throat there, elbowing that one in the gut, kneeing another in the crotch. Adrenaline ran through Maggie as she moved, almost like a dance, hitting blow after blow, stake after stake, knocking full grown men to the ground, killing them. She forgot all about the werewolf as she felt the crunch of a nose breaking under her palm. Blood flowed down her wrist, but knowing it wasn't hers, she continued, twirling round to kick a blonde in the stomach. He fell to the floor, where she pounced, staking him right in the heart.

She stopped, breathing hard as she looked about her. The blonde had been the last. Wait, no. She smelled another, along with the familiar scent of werewolf. She looked up to see two men standing just metres away, one with a close-shaved head and a dopey look on his face, three scars along his scalp.

Wolf.

She lunged for the other, the vampire, her stake ready in her hand, when the wolf took a step to the side, standing between them.

"Woah, woah, there," he said, holding her back. "I'd rather you not kill my mate, thanks."

She recognised his voice. She stopped, breathing heavily, thinking, remembering. She thought back to when she was young; four, maybe five. Her father had still been around, and her brother sane.

She'd seen her dad talking with someone, another wolf. She'd been watching them from her tree. She could smell it on him. And the little boy with him, seven or eight years old. He was a werewolf too. She'd felt sick. Who would burden a child with such a curse? But then again, not all thought it was so.

She remembered the little boy, short hair, and a dopey expression on his face. The very same as the man holding her back now.

She remembered her father calling out to the strange man. She remembered the boy's name.

"McNair," she said, relaxing a little. "Tom McNair."

He looked confused, holding her at arms length to get a better look at her. "How do you know that?"

Maggie laughed, relieved to have found someone who she knew wasn't trying to kill her. Or worse. "Our fathers... They knew eachother."

"They did?" Tom was finding it hard to remember her.

"We never met. Officially." She took a step back, holding her hand out for him to shake. "Maggie Murdoch. I watched you from my tree."  
He shook her hand, and the vampire snorted.

"I'm sure _that's_ perfectly normal."

Maggie scowled at him, almost growling, her hand tightening around the stake. "Watch it, le-"

"Hal," Tom said, resting a hand on her stake-weilding arm. "And he's alright. He's my mate. So I'd rather you didn't kill him."

Maggie looked repulsed. "Friend? You're friends with _this_?"

"Yeah," Tom said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "Not all vampires are bad, Maggie."

"Not all..." Maggie looked at him incredulously. "What happened to you? Does he... does he have something on you?" she demanded, pointing at Hal accusingly. "Whatever it is, I'll get it back for you. Is he threatening you? Is it your Dad?"

"I assure you," the vampire said slowly. "I have nothing on Tom. You needn't worry."

"Then you've gone mad," she said to Tom, ignoring Hal. "You've gone mad. Where's McNair? What does he have to say about all this?"

"He's dead," he said.

"Oh," Maggie cringed. "I'm sorry-"

"It's alright," Tom said. "It's fine. I remember your dad now. He was a lovely bloke. He was a professor, you know," he told Hal proudly, as if it was his own father he spoke of. "Lovely man. Proper clever. I'm surprised he never introduced us."

"He didn't want me near werewolves. What with the Murdoch thing and all..."

Tom nodded. "Makes sense. Sorry 'bout that."

Hal frowned. "What "Murdoch thing"?" He was ignored.

"So where is he?"

"Dead."

"The, uh...?"

"Vampires."

Tom made a face. "Right. Sorry. What about... Damien, right? That was your brother's name, wasn't it?"

"Yeah." Maggie nodded. "That's actually why I'm here."

"Oh?"

"He's gone missing."


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

Tom unlocked the front door and stepped inside, Hal following, with Maggie glaring at the back of his head, her hand on a stake hidden in the waistline of her jeans. She didn't want to kill a friend of Tom's, but if the situation arose, she wouldn't hesitate to plunge it straight into his heart. She'd been brought up to survive anything. This would be no exception.

"Allison? Alex?" Tom called, closing the door behind Maggie. She looked around the house in awe. She hadn't been inside a proper house in years. Not since her father had died.

"Allison's my girlfriend," he said, sounding pleased with himself. Maggie nodded, smiling politely back at him.

"That's... great Tom, but-"

"She was already a werewolf," he assured her. "So no worries about that, yeah?"  
Maggie nodded, a genuine smile replacing the old. "Yeah. No worries."

Hal vanished into the other room as two girls descended the stairs. Both had short hair, but they were drastically different. One wore glasses, and had visciously curly hair that bounced on her head as she almost skipped down the stairs. A Blue Peter badge caught Maggie's eye on her wooly jumper. She smelled of wolf.

The second girl wore a green dress-like top with a leather jacket over the top, and big bulky boots on her feet. She was there, but not there. Ghost.

"This is my girlfriend, Allison," Tom told her, gesturing to the chirpy girl who looked desperate to speak. "And... well actually, you won't be able to see her, being human and all-"

"I can see her," Maggie said, watching the girl, who must be Alex.

"You can see me?" she said. Maggie nodded.

Tom frowned. "How?"

She turned to him. "I grew up fighting the monsters that were meant to stay under my bed. I grew up knowing that all those children's stories were true. I never lost my vision."

"It's not as rare as you might think," Hal said, appearing in the doorway. "Most imaginary friends a child has are actually ghosts. And when the children themselves realise this, many of them grow up believing in the supernatural, and they never lose their sight." He glanced at Maggie, but failed to speak directly to her. "I expect Maggie befriended a ghost at one time."

Maggie nodded in response anyway. "Benny."

Hal nodded, before turning back to leave the room.

"Hal," he turned. "That's short for Henry, right? Sometimes Harry."

"Yes," Hal said quietly, leaving the room.

"My dad was a history professor," she called after him. "He taught me everything."

He knew what she meant, even if none of the others did.

Maggie wasn't sure to make of this quaint little family she'd found living in the bed-and-breakfast in Barry. There was Tom, a hardened werewolf brought up to kill vampires; a kindred soul. He was nice too, and polite. This was something she hadn't encountered in years; kindness. She'd almost forgotten such a luxury existed, to have someone do something for her, expecting nothing in return.

Tom had insisted on her staying with them until her brother was found. She refused at first, but it hadn't taken much to convince her. She'd missed having a proper bed to sleep in.

Allison was bubbly and talkative (sometimes too much so), but Maggie found she didn't mind all that much. It comforted her, to hear the sound of something other than silence. It had been a long while since she'd had someone to talk to, let alone something she could talk _about, _but Allison was quite happy to fill in the gaps in conversation.

Alex didn't say much at first. She seemed to watch Maggie with a frown on her face, as if she was trying to figure something out. Maggie felt for her; she was in much the same position. Maggie was probably the first new face she'd had in a while. She decided she'd let it sink in, before questioning the girl. The scathing looks she gave Hal had Maggie with dozens of hopeful questions. Maybe Alex would be a breath of fresh air in this madness.

Because it _was_ madness, this arrangment. Hal was like a broken puzzle piece, that Maggie couldn't really fit in anywhere. She understood Tom, and Allison, the girlfriend. She could even understand how Alex fit in, if she'd died here, or if her death was somehow connected with the werewolves. It wasn't the first time she'd heard of a ghost staying with her killer. Especially if it had been an accident. They didn't have anywhere else to go, she'd supposed, and if the werewolves felt guilty...

Not that her werewolves had ever felt guilty about anything. It was an emotion that had been lost a long time ago, an emotion madness didn't need.

But Hal, Hal didn't fit. A vampire killing machine, a geeky wolf-girl, and a dead teen living with a 500-year-old, blood-sucking psychotic? How had that happened? Why was it _still _happening?  
Tom had insisted their friendship was genuine, but something about it didn't sit right with Maggie. She'd watched Hal, his hand twitching as he twirled that _stupid _domino, his stiff posture, his every move precise and meticulous and deliberate.

He was sitting on the other end of the sofa, pressed against the arm, as if the very presence of her repelled him, Tom sitting between them. She hoped the smell of her drove him mad.

"Oh, wait! Are you thirsty?" Tom asked. He'd been doting on her since they'd arrived, almost _too_ keen to please.

"Uh, water? Some water would be nice?" she said, unsure whether or not she'd begun to overstep her bounds. She turned to Allison for reassurance, who gave her a cheery smile as Tom rushed to the kitchen, and she decided that it must be acceptable. She'd been too long without company.

She glanced at Alex, who looked away quickly, and Maggie frowned. She turned to Hal, not sure which of them Alex had been looking at.  
Hal did a double-take, frowning accusingly. "What?"

She cursed inwardly, searching for a tangible reason to be caught looking. "How long have you been dry?"

He blinked. "Um..."

"Over fifty years," Allison said brightly. "He's doing rather well, isn't he?"

Maggie hadn't looked away from Hal. "And are the OCD and nervous ticks a general reaction to withdrawal, or is it specific to you?"

"It's how I... how I cope," he said, puzzled, and slightly irritated at the tone of her voice. "Order, routine... Why do you ask?"

"I've never met a dry vampire before," she mused.

Hal glanced at Tom, who was now hovering behind Maggie. No one had mentioned Hal was dry, he was sure of it. Tom had only insisted that he was a friend. "How did you know that?"

Maggie frowned, almost forgetting her promise to herself to ignore this vampire completely in her odd discovery.

"You smell different... Not as fresh as the others."

Hal's eyes flickered to Tom, who quickly moved to sit between them, handing the glass to Maggie, blocking her view.

"Thanks," she said, frowning at the glass as she took a sip. She could see Alex from the corner of her eye. She was watching her again, but she didn't say anything.

So Hal was dry. She tried not to snort at the notion.  
She wondered how long he could keep _that_ up.

She moved into the room opposite Hal's.

She'd have rather been closer to Tom, but she hadn't had that choice, and as she unpacked her rucksack she decided it was for the best. If she had to kill him, at least she wouldn't have far to go.

"So I thought I could look him up for you," Allison chirped, almost bouncing on Maggie's bed. "I'm quite good at all that. It's how I found Tom."

"Sure..." Maggie said, not really listening as she counted the stakes she'd laid out on the bed. "That would be great."

"Oh, it's my pleasure. It's great to have another girl about the house, it can sometimes get a bit lonely around here, with Tom and Hal joined at the hip and Alex disappearing and popping up again all the time, everyone just coming and going. I'm the only one who ever stays put..."

Maggie frowned as she raked through the contents of her bag. Stakes, extra clothes, food, bandages... but something was missing. Something _very_ important.

"Shit," she hissed.

It was then she realised the stream of nonsense coming from Allison had stopped. She glanced up, to see Hal in the doorway.

"Tom is... looking for you, Allison," he said stiffly.

"Oh. Alrighty then," she said cheerfully, jumping to her feet. "He's downstairs is he? And I don't suppose you've seen Alex, have you?"

Hal shook his head, avoiding looking at Maggie, who had unknowingly taken hold of the closest stake, and was gripping it painfully tight by her side.

"I haven't, no," he said curtly. "Is it something I can help you with?"

"No, no, I wouldn't worry about it," Allison said, waving it away. "I'll start on that for you tomorrow," she added to Maggie, before skipping down the stairs.

Hal looked at Maggie, as if he was about to say something, before glancing at the stake in her hand and turning away.

She made sure to glare especially hard at the back of his head as he left.

She didn't sleep that night either. There was a storm, and her dreams weren't the nicest, even on calm nights. She sat crouched against the wall facing the door, a stake held tightly in her fist as the thunder rolled.

She glared at the door until her eyes hurt and her head began to pound. She hummed to herself the only lullaby she knew, the only thing she dared hold close to her heart; the only thing that kept the nightmares away.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

"You look knackered," Tom observed at breakfast the next morning. Maggie shrugged, feeling gritty and irritable. "Wasn't your bed comfortable?"

"I'm fine," she grunted. "It was fine. Thank you."

"How's your breakfast?" Allison asked hopefully, waiting for her to take another bite.

"Wonderful," she replied dryly. "Better than I've had in years."

"So I was thinking," Tom said, taking a seat at the table beside her. "Last night, me an' Hal were investigating this new group of vampires."

"You were hunting vampires?" Allison demanded, suddenly looking apalled.

"No, we were just-"

"It was my fault," Maggie stepped in. "There were too many of them. I hadn't realised you'd meant to be there," she added to Tom. "I killed them. It looked like Tom needed a hand."

"Oh," Allison frowned, looking flustered. "Well, there couldn't have been _that_ many, if you killed them all!"

Maggie laughed to herself. "I'm a little more... advanced in the field than Tom is."

"She's a Murdoch," Tom said, as if that explained everything.

Allison blinked. "Oh. Well, I hope you're not planning on killing any more. You know how I feel about that, Tom."

"No, no, I was just thinking... Wait! Hang on a minute!" He jumped up from the table and disappeared from the room.

Allison was grinning expectantly at her, and for a moment, Maggie caught herself wishing the brooding ghost was there to distract her. She had yet to say more than two words to her, and yet there was something in the ghost's eyes when she looked at her that intrigued Maggie. She wondered if she would reappear anytime soon.

"So I reckon, these new vampires probably have your brother," Tom said, as he reappeared with a bundle of maps.

"For dogfights?" Tom nodded, setting them out on the table. "And that's why they didn't take me?"

"Probably. They might've done though. Sometimes they take humans. I guess they want a proper fight."

"Murdoch's don't do well in dogfights," Maggie said uneasily. "If these vampires know..."

"They won't." Hal was standing in the doorway. "May I interject?"

Maggie didn't answer.

"Sure, mate. 'Course," Tom said. Hal walked towards the table, standing between them.

"I asked a friend of mine," he began. "About the Murdoch gene. He says its rare knowledge. Only the oldest of us have even heard of it. At some point they got so sick vampires stopped seeing them as a threat. Most of us forgot all about them. These vampires are young. As far as they're concerned, they've got a dog."

"You're sure?" Maggie said, glancing up at him. He smiled reassuringly, nodding. She froze, unsure how to process it.

"If they have him at all. And they probably haven't thought it all through properly, so they'll snatch up some human last minute to throw in the cage."

"But he can't infect them!" Maggie said hastily. "We can't let him infect anybody."

"Don't worry about that, Maggie. You needn't worry about that."

"How so?"

"He'll probably rip them to shreds."

Maggie was not comforted by this, but she doubted the vampire had meant it to be a comfort. The blood on her brother's hands was blood on her hands also, and though he may relish in his killings, death was not a thing Maggie cared for.

Tom suggested they investigate the lair. Perhaps, if they were lucky, the group Maggie had taken out the night before would consist of most of the group. If they were weak, Tom and Maggie could sneak in and find Damien.

That night, as darkness fell, the two vampire-hunters set out, followed by Hal.

She glanced at him often as he followed. Tom was spluttering out some plan of action, but she was only half-listening. She didn't like having her back to the vampire. She felt vulnerable.

They reached the lair pretty quickly, and Maggie slipped the stake from her sleeve. Hal glanced down at her hand, and caught sight of a circle of raw skin around her wrist.

She grunted, pulling her sleeve down to cover it, and Hal looked away.

"Let's go," Maggie said. "And hope we don't die."

Hal frowned at her, but followed all the same.

The warehouse was empty.

"Well this has been most helpful," Hal said dryly, as Tom emerged from yet another abandoned room. "Can we go home now?"

Tom looked confused. "But... this is where they're staying. I know it is. I saw'rem!"

"Tom, it's fine, there will be other places," Hal reassured. "Maybe Maggie wiped the lot of them out yesterday? It's quite possible none of them are left."  
The vampire put an arm around Tom's shoulder, and Tom nodded sadly in response. The companionship made Maggie want to puke.  
And then she frowned as something her father used to say popped into her head.

She shook it off, glancing out the window to her left, when she heard Tom call her name, and something smack against the back of her head.

She was thrown forward face-first, and she could taste blood as she hit the ground. She wiped the blood from her lip as she looked up, squinting at her attacker.

He lunged for her, this strange black-haired vampire, and in the second it took for her to reach for her stake, which had been knocked to the ground on impact, he was on her.

He hissed as he bared his fangs, his hands reaching for her neck, and she kicked and punched at him helplessly. This wasn't the way a Murdoch died. She couldn't die like this.

She kicked again, but hit nothing but air.

She bolted upright, to see Hal holding the boy by his shirt and shoving him against the pillar. Something shook, and dust fell about her head, but she wasn't paying attention. Hal did it again, to prove a point, as Maggie got to her feet. They were talking in hushed tones, and Maggie couldn't hear.

She was about to demand answers when she saw Hal grab hold of the stake hidden in his pocket, and thrust it into the vampires chest.

He disintegrated at their feet.

Hal turned to look at her.

"Let's hope Tom gets something out of the other one before he kills her, eh?" he said, sounding tired with the world. Maggie frowned.

"What the hell was that?" she demanded, squaring up to him, though he was quite a bit taller. His expression turned cold. "I was about to kill him!"

"You were about to have your neck snapped like a twig!" Hal snarled, throwing himself back to lean on the pillar, his arms folded. "I was doing you a favour."

"Right! Sure, of course you were!" She brandished the stake at him, before turning it to point at the door. "Because you were so desperate to help out the _vampire killer, _that you _let one get away!_"

"You should be grateful! Next time I should just let you die, should I?!" Hal demanded, just as there was a groan and a rumble from above. The pair's heads shot up as the ceiling began to crumble, a deep crack forming in the centre.

"_Move_!" Hal ordered, as Maggie watched part of the ceiling break off and fall towards her. She was frozen.

And then she was being tackled to the ground, sent flying across the room, away from where the ceiling was now crashing to the ground with an almighty force that seemed to shake the whole world.

She blinked, confused, and saw Hal above her, his arm still around her protectively. Both of them were panting, staring at each other in shock.

The peace didn't last.

"Why didn't you move?" he whispered.

"Why didn't you just let me die?" she retorted, pushing herself to a sitting position, forcing him to move back. He opened his mouth to answer, before shaking his head, his mouth turning to a hard line.

"Do us all a favour and just... keep your mouth shut next time," he grunted, before getting to his feet and stalking off.

"Are you alright?" Tom asked her when she staggered out of the building, gritting her teeth against the pain of her leg. She'd fallen on it awkwardly, and she fought the urge to growl some insult or accusation at Hal for it.

"She's fine," Hal grunted, before she'd even opened her mouth to speak. "Maggie doesn't need anyone or anything. She's invincible."  
The sarcasm in his voice grated against her ears, and she glared at him.

"What happened?" Tom asked warily, glancing between the two.

"Nothing," Hal bit out. "Absolutely nothing."

Tom turned to Maggie. "You sure?"

"Of course," she said, far too cheerily, glancing at Tom. She felt a shot of guilt blister through her at the sight of his face. He was bloodied and bruised, as was Hal, though less so, and it was her fault.

"Fine," she sighed, turning to Hal. "I'm sorry. And... thank you."

The words felt wrong on her tongue, and she fought the urge to scowl or swear or do anything else to counter them. She looked to Tom, who nodded, and she took her leave, walking up ahead on the journey home.

Hal looked surprised, turning to the werewolf. "Did I hear that correctly? Did she just...?"

"She did," Tom said, almost proudly. "You'll be mates in no time."

Hal snorted. "I saved her life and she yelled at me. I doubt we will ever become friends." He watched her striding forward up ahead and leaned closer to Tom, to whisper. "She's very strange. She's not... normal."

"And we are? Hal, she's had a lot on her plate."

"I'm sure she has, we all have, but-"

"She's not used to people being kind, Hal. She doesn't know how to take help."

Hal frowned. "What does that even mean?"

Tom lowered his voice. "She's a Murdoch, Hal. She don't even trust her own kind; she can't. Every man she'd ever met has had an alterior motive, vampire or werewolf."

"She trusts you," Hal said dubiously.

Tom shrugged. "Her dad trusted McNair..."

"But not me," Hal sighed. "Yes, I get it, werewolves don't like vampires and all that. But sometimes, it's just a little... _boring_, Tom."

"But you don't get it, Hal. This werewolf don't like werewolves either."

Hal wasn't quite sure he could get his head around that piece of information.

"The marks... on her wrists," he began, trying to piece together what he knew. "Vampire... or werewolf?"

"Werewolf. Most of them are. She's been stabbed, choked, beaten up, had her bones broken. She's been through hell, Hal."

"But... why would werwolves..." He thought back to his research on Murdoch's... something about a pure blood-line... madness and then death... "But that's _barbaric!_" he cried, causing Maggie, who was quite a bit ahead of them, to snap her head around and frown at them both.

"That's how it is, Hal. She doesn't mean it. Not really. She's just scared."

"I... we... are they still looking for her?"

"Probably, yeah."

"We can't let them find her."

Maggie frowned at his words. She had, of course, heard every one.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

Alex was back when they returned from their venture, exhausted and dusty, bashed and bruised. Maggie massaged her head as she took a seat next to Allison, who had insisted that she and the ghost sat up to wait for them.

"This is going to be difficult," she grumbled after Tom had explained the situation to the girls. There were still a few, he had learned, lurking about elsewhere, who may know of her brother's whereabouts, and they were to focus on them. Hal was across the room, drumming his fingers on the bar. "More difficult than we thought. I can't ask you to get involved." She glanced up, looking at each of them in turn. "Any of you."

"Of course we're going to help, Maggie," Allison said. "Aren't we Tom? We can't let you go out there on your own."

Tom nodded. "Course we'll help."

Maggie smiled, despite her exhaustion. "Thank you."

"But how are we supposed to infiltrate them?" Alex interrupted, and Maggie was surprised it had taken her so long to realise she was Scottish. "We can't send Hal in there, not if they're drinkers. He can't be near blood. We'll have a riot on our hands."

"Well, how about Maggie go in?" Allison suggested. "You both said they'd probably need a human for the dogfight. How about we lay a trap, with Maggie as the bait?"

Maggie didn't respond, but she'd gone deathly pale, turning to look out the window, and Hal had to put a hand on Allison's shoulder to catch her attention.

"I think we should drop the subject," he said, watching the back of Maggie's head warily. "For now. It's been a long day, and we could all use some rest."  
Allison followed his line of vision.

"Right you are," she said, hopping to her feet and taking Tom by the hand. "Come on, Tom. Alex?"

Alex glanced between the werewolf couple and the human sitting by the window, her face a sickly shade of grey.

"I... uh," she sighed. "Sure."

Maggie stared out the window as she listened to the three of them trudge up the stairs. She waited for Hal to go too, but the sound of his steady, calculated footsteps never came. Her sudden apprehension at Allison's suggestion amplified.

"Are you alright, Maggie?" he said, after what felt like an eternity of uncomfortable silence.

"I'm fine," she croaked, not looking at him. He looked at his feet, unsure whether or not to continue.

"You... you don't have to be afraid. We won't... we _wouldn't _put you in that situation."

"I'm not afraid," she bit back. "I'm a Murdoch. I'm not afraid of anything."

"Naturally," Hal amended, frowning. "But... but you never have to do it. I just wanted to assure you-"

Cold, crass laughter bubbled up from Maggie's chest, and Hal almost flinched back from it. "Because I'm in the habit of needing reassurance from a vampire."

He blinked. "I know you have your reasons for... this," he gestured almost hopelessly at her defensive position across the room from him. "And I am terribly sorry for whatever you've had to see, whatever you've had to go through... But I'm not going to do that to you. I want to help you."

Her short laugh was dark as she turned to watch him. "And how can you help me? Alex said herself you can't be put in that situation. That leaves _me_. There's no other option if I want Damien back." She swallowed, her hard expression flickering. "I'm not afraid to die."

Hal looked at the girl helplessly, when a sudden thought entered his head.

Her eyes flickered to his face when he didn't respond, and her voice was sincere when she spoke.

"Why didn't you let me die?"

He shrugged. "At some point, the dying just has to stop."

And then Alex's place here made just that little bit more sense.

Maggie avoided Hal at all costs after that.

It wasn't that she was afraid. No, of course it wasn't that. It was that she didn't understand. She didn't understand, and like so many humans had done before her, and would do long after she was gone, she shunned it. She let herself grow ignorant.

"He's not so bad," Tom would tell her, time and time again, and each time she would shake him off, for that was just it. It didn't make sense.

Her father had told her once that ignorance was a sin. She'd been fairly young then, and hadn't really understood. Her brother had told her once that ignorance was the world's way of protecting the weak from the bloodthirsty.  
She wasn't inclined to think of herself as weak, but she'd always thought there must be some kind of truth in her brother's words. He had outlived their father, after all.

She spent the majority of her time with Tom, and when Tom was with Hal, Allison. Alex intrigued her, but was yet to speak to her. Now that she knew the secret, (or thought she did) she felt it was rude to go prying into the ghost's business.

And so she stuck with the werewolves.

Until, that is, the night of the full moon.

"Look, we can talk about it in the morning, alright," Tom gushed, when they'd breached the topic of their fathers, his foot already out the door. "I really gotta go. Full moon and all."

Maggie opened her mouth to add something, but he was already gone, the door slammed shut behind him.

"But... but..."

"Slumming it, I see," Hal said, appearing by the bottom of the stairs and leaning against the banister. "I suppose the ghost will have to do."

Before Maggie could come up with a clever retort, he'd climbed the stairs and vanished.

For the first time in a long while, Maggie felt like a bit of a child. That's how this vampire made her feel, she decided. Standing in the hallway of the B&B, without Tom to fall back on, she wasn't sure what to do.

She could lock herself in her room for the night, but that would do little good. It'd be like she was sulking.

She wasn't sulking.

She'd wanted to go out and search for Damien again tonight, but Tom had said it was too dangerous, and Allison had convinced her it was useless.  
She tried not to think of where Damien was tonight, or what he was being made to do.

What did normal people do on an average, mundane Saturday night?  
It had been so long, she couldn't really remember.

She decided to watch TV, and the night turned out to be less mundane than she'd expected.

She wasn't sure when Alex had appeared behind her, only that she'd been there for some time. Long enough to have grasped the plot of whatever show it was she was watching.

"It's the ginger bloke," she said, and Maggie was so startled she'd almost dropped her mug of tea. It had been so long since she'd had tea, she was surprised she hadn't forgotten how to make it.

"What, now?"

"The ginger," Alex said, pointing as she dropped down on the couch. "He's the bomber."

"How do you know that?"

She sighed. "I have a lot of spare time."

Maggie wasn't sure what to say to that. What did dead people _do_ all day?

"Ever since my body got carted off with those weirdos, we've been kind of stumped on how to sort my business. And ever since you arrived... well, it's been pretty boring for me. I've even gotten bored with this whole relaxing thing!"

Maggie made a face. "Sorry about that. I can't say I know how that feels."

Alex rolled her eyes. "I know _all_ about you and your problems. But me? No, I get cast into the shadows because _I'm already dead _and you're not."

Maggie frowned. The ghost had lost her. "Excuse me?"

Alex leaned back on the arm-rest, crossing one leg over the other. "Well Hal promised to help me, didn't he? When I died, I mean. But as soon as you came along it was all, _"You have plenty of time, Alex. For her, time is in short supply.". _I mean, what is that? What _is_ that?"

"Hal's helping you pass over?"

"He _was_, yes. What's that look for?"

Maggie hadn't realised she was scowling. "I didn't know vampires could feel guilty."

Alex scoffed. "He'd better feel guilty. If it hadn't been for him and his mate, I wouldn't even be here!"

"Tom, you mean?"

Alex waved her question away dismissively. "No, no, it was another bloke. A vampire. He's dead now. But he killed me, and _Hal_ drank my blood."

She sounded peeved, but not neccessarily repulsed by this. Not quite, not anymore. Her voice sounded more resigned to the fact.

"Not that it matters much now. He has a new charity case to ease the guilt."

Maggie was busy trying to process everything being thrown at her.

Hal felt responsible for Alex's death, but he hadn't actually done the killing.  
He had, however, drank her blood.  
He'd promised to help her pass over.  
But when that had become difficult, he had switched targets, to her; to Maggie.  
He was helping her willingly, and not because Tom was making him.  
He was helping because he felt guilty.

"Is that what I am? A charity case?"

Alex shrugged. "Don't see what other reason there is for how he's been acting. Chasing around after someone he barely knows, someone who hates him. I mean, that's not normal."

"It's not, is it," she said, knowing it wasn't. She scowled at the mug in her hands. "I don't need his help, and I don't need his pity."

Alex shrugged. "I agree. It's insulting. You shouldn't take that. Are you gonna take that?"

"Absolutely not."

She was thudding on his door before she'd even thought about what she was going to say, really.

"Alex, I'm sorry, I don't have- Oh." Opening his door, he looked surprised to see her. "It's you." His face changed then, resuming it's look of indifference. "Got lost?"

"I won't be something to pity. Some task of yours to make yourself feel better. I won't."

He looked bemused. "Excuse me?"

"Alex told me about your promise. And how you abandoned it as soon as it got too difficult."

"What?" he said, scrunching up his face. "Maggie, I really don't know what you're talking about-"

"I'd rather do it myself than have you tagging along," she cut in, "using this as some way to redeem yourself for your past-"

"I'll stop you right there," he said, raising a hand. "I have found a solution to our problem."

"What? _Our _problem?"

"Yes," he said, sounding pleased with himself, and completely ignoring the look she was giving him. "The other night, our discussion. Now, obviously, Tom and Allison are out of the picture, and Alex really has no way of getting in, even if she wanted to help. That, you would think, would leave us," he reiterated, gesturing to the two of them. "But, I've been thinking, and I think I know someone we can use instead."

It caught her off-guard. Had he genuinely been thinking over this these past few days?

"What, really?"

"Yes. Yes. He's been away for a while, but I think I know where we can find him. As of tomorrow, I'll get right on looking."

"Are you serious?"

"Of course. I would never joke about such serious matters. It may take me a few days, but I assure you," he said, stepping out of his room and suddenly steering her towards her own. "That before the next full moon, we shall have our man."

"Al-alright then." She was too overwhelmed with relief to even notice that he was touching her lower back as they walked. Hal _hated_ touching people.

Other than when he'd saved her life.

"Now, you just relax, get a good night's rest, and don't worry about a thing," he said, holding her door open for her. She glanced back at him.

Hal had been cleaning again. Only his excessive cleanliness and order made him this weirdly upbeat and optimistic.

That or he was up to something.

"What are you planning, Hal?"

He grinned, and for a split second, Maggie wasn't sure if she was seeing the real Hal or a clever ruse.

"All will be revealed soon enough," he said, and turned back to his room, closing the door behind him.

The nightmares were just as vivid as they were on any other full moon. Maggie hadn't expected anything else.

She hadn't however, expected to dream about the inhabitants of Honolulu Heights amongst the monsters.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

Maggie's book was still missing.

Not that it was really missing. She knew precisely where it was - or where it _should_ be -, she just hadn't the time to go and fetch it back.

She did, however, miss it.

Hal was rarely around since the night of the full moon. Tom said when he wasn't working he was off looking for a friend of theirs. Maggie couldn't help but feel hopeful.

She and Tom's work, however, hadn't been going so well. They were running out of places to look for the few survivors of the vampire clan, and she was starting to doubt they were even looking for the right people.

"What if this is a complete waste of time?" she said one morning as Allison walked them through some computer programme that was supposed to help them track Damien down. Alex had disappeared again since the full moon, and when she _was_around, she went out of her way to be extremely unhelpful. Maggie couldn't understand why the ghost wouldn't like her, but that was the feeling she was getting.

"What if this isn't the group? What if some other vampires took him, and we've been barking up the completely wrong tree?"

Allison looked up from the computer, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Maggie knew any moment now she would just start rambling until she stopped making sense, but she couldn't help herself.

"What if... what if he's dead? What if they killed him last full moon? It's been a week since then! What if he's dead?!"

"Well, statistically," Allison began, but Tom shot her a look and she stopped.

"We'll figure it out, Mag," he said. "Don't worry about it."

She slumped down at the table chair, feeling useless, and waited for a miracle.

Soon enough, they all went to bed, exhausted and no closer to Damien, but as usual, Maggie couldn't sleep. It wasn't a wolf thing; Tom could drop off in seconds, yapping away one minute and snoring the next. She didn't think it was a Murdoch thing either, which meant it must be a Maggie thing. She didn't like Maggie-things much.

She glanced at her watch, and decided Hal must be home by now. She was sure she'd heard him come in, and she toyed with the idea of going to him in his room. To question him, of course. He had promised to find her someone, and she wanted to make sure he came through. She wanted to know what was going on.

Having people to help you really did make you dependent, she realised.

She hadn't decided if that was good or bad yet.

Visiting Hal's room at this time was definitely a bad idea, however. But bad idea or not, it was what she was going to do.

She knew she'd never disturb Tom and Allison. They were all the way downstairs in Tom's room, and she could hear Allison giggling. They were preoccupied.  
She wondered if Alex would make a surprise appearance tonight.

Hal's door was shut tight, as usual, and she knocked three times, waiting patiently for his response.  
She frowned. Hadn't he heard her? She knocked again, and again was rewarded with silence.

That was weird. She had been sure she'd heard him come in, _at least _half an hour ago.  
Maybe he was asleep. Maybe she should come back in the morning. Maybe-

Her right hand obviously hadn't been listening, as it had reached for the door knob and turned, before she'd even finished her thought.

The room was dark, and her hand flew to the switch. Darkness had never bothered her before, but the darkness of this room was hiding something, perhaps everything, she needed to know about the strange vampire.

Know your enemy, her brother had told her, time and time again. She had been sure it was just a stupid quote from some film, but she scolded herself all the same. Why hadn't she done this sooner? This was Hal Yorke!

And if she couldn't kill him, she might as well take a look around.

She flicked the switch, and let out a sigh. The room was the same as every other room she'd ever seen, if not just a bit... _neater._Single bed with the headboard against the opposite wall, bookshelf against the wall to the left, picture frame of a white-haired man on a cabinet to the right.

She picked it up, intrigued. The old man was smiling up at her, but she couldn't fathom how he'd gotten himself here. It was a strange thing for a "dry" vampire to want to keep memories. Or did he simply enjoy torturing himself?

She moved to the bookshelf next, running a finger along the spines of the dozens of old volumes, taking in their scent. She loved the smell of books, especially old history books. Hal's taste in literature wasn't that bad either.

She turned away from the bookshelf, to the bed, and saw a tattered old box of dominoes.

What was his fascination with them? she wondered, recalling the domino she often caught him twirling between his fingers. She'd found it irritating at first, but now it was intriguing.

She sat gently on the bed, careful not to crease the sheets too badly, and slowly opened the box.

She wasn't sure how many sets he'd stacked neatly into this one box, but there was a space where she presumed the domino he carried should go. She took out a couple, holding the ivory pieces in her hand. Somewhere, amongst the madness of these dominoes and the man in the picture, was the secret to Henry Yorke.

It occurred to her, that although her father had never been one for stereotypes, his book had never mentioned _this._

"Leo gave me those."

Maggie held back a gasp as her head shot up, and she dropped the domino back into the box.

"The man in the picture?" she asked, feigning calm. He'd caught her out, yes, but he didn't need to know that.

He nodded sharply, and something in his expression didn't sit right. He was standing awkwardly in the doorway, still wearing his coat, and his hair was on end from the wind.

"I'd like you to put them back," he said through grit teeth, but his voice was more anxious than angry. "The way they were before."

She glanced down at the dominoes on her lap, some of which were upside down and back to front, and all in the wrong order.

"Sorry," she said, and the sympathy in her own voice baffled her. Why was she apologising for _dominoes? _"I didn't realise."

After a minute of rearranging, she stopped, turning back to look at him. He'd averted his eyes, and his hands were balled into fists by his sides.

"That bad?" she asked gently.

He nodded, flexing his fingers and attempting to relax his shoulders.

"It makes your skin crawl, doesn't it," she said casually, focussed on the dominoes. Hal glanced at her, his brow furrowed, but if she noticed she gave no indication. "It's horrible. Like your heart is gonna come bursting right out of your chest, and your stomach is in a million knots, and it's still trying to do somersaults."

He raised an eyebrow. "You sound like you're talking from experience."

She shook her head. "Oh, no, none of _this,"_she said, gesturing to the perfectly alligned furniture. "Though my brother didn't like it when I put the book in the wrong box."

"Book?"

"My dad's book," she shrugged, and froze. Maybe she shouldn't have said that. "Anyway, anxiety's all the same, no matter the reason."

He moved slowly towards the bed. "What do you have to be anxious about?" he said evenly.

She didn't answer, but her mind automatically reversed to much darker times. _A hand on her shoulder. Cold fingers running down her arm, along her neck, her collarbone. Eyes, watching her. Blue, but with a much darker promise behind them.  
_  
She shook herself. That had been a long time ago. There was no use in crying over it now.

"You're doing it wrong." Hal's voice caught her attention, freeing her from the memories. "Let me do it." He held out his hand, and she gave him the box.  
He sat beside her on the bed, slowly taking out each domino and placing it on the bed.

They sat in silence for a while, Maggie simply watching his calculated movements as he rearranged the dominoes and placed them back into the box, one by one.

"It takes your mind off it," she said, more to herself, after he hadn't spoken in a while. "It distracts you from the hunger."

"Yes," he replied, continuing to move the dominoes. "And killing vampires reminds you of how truly terrible we are, and distracts you from the monstrosity of your own kind."

She swallowed. "Yes."

How could he possibly know?

"Is it distracting you now?" she said, eager to distance them from the topic of her 'kind'. "With me sitting here?"

He glanced up at her. "You hold no appeal over me," he said.

"Oh." She frowned.

"You smell more of wolf than of human," he explained. "And so everything in my body is telling me to stay away from your blood at all costs."

"Oh," she said, understanding.

"Does it frighten you," he continued, "to be sharing a house with the monsters that live under you bed?"

She shrugged. "I'm not afraid. I'm simply tired of being brave."

"And bravery means killing everything and anything that isn't Murdoch?" he asked, and the mockery she expected to hear in his voice was absent.

"Bravery and anger aren't the same."

He nodded, and returned to his dominoes.

"You didn't take a stake with you tonight," he observed.

"I'm tired of being angry too."

* * *

"Here," Maggie said, thrusting a rucksack into Allison's arms, almost knocking the glasses from her face. "Keep them, burn them, I don't care what you do with them."

Allison looked bewildered. "What are they?"

"Weapons," she answered, and Tom almost cringed. "I've decided you're right. Killing isn't always the answer, and to stop me from being tempted, I'm giving them to you."

Tom frowned. "Might need 'em, Mag. What if you're attacked?"

"What are hands and feet for if you can't defend yourself with them?"

Allison blinked. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, yeah," Maggie lied, waving the girl away. She thought what she was doing was mad, but madness was the way in this house, and she found herself wanting to stay. If giving up her sanity was the only way, she wasn't sure she wouldn't do it.

"I trust you, Allison," she said, and disappeared back up the stairs before she could change her mind.

Hal smiled weakly at her as she passed him in the hall, none the wiser.


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

_The werewolf kicked the pile of covers on the floor as he strolled past, eliciting a whimper from the small form bundled inside. Slowly, it unravelled itself, to reveal a grime-covered, skinny little girl whose ears poked out of the dark hair that hung over her face.  
_

_"Get up, stupid," the boy grunted. "We're going hunting."  
_

_"Again?" the little girl whined, rubbing her eyes as she sat up.  
_

_"Yes, again," he snapped. "Do you want to be ripped to shreds in the middle of the night?"  
__  
"Of course not, Damien."  
__  
"Then we hunt the bastards down until we catch them. All of them. Do you understand?"_

"Yes, Damien," she sighed, pushing her dirty hair out of her eyes and looking down at her grubby hands. What she wouldn't give for a bath.

"Don't sigh at me!" Damien snapped. "It's not my fault I've a coward for a sister."

"I'm not a coward," she muttered, crossing her legs and attempting to disentangle herself from the thin sheets of her make-shift bed. The wooden floor creaked beneath her.

"You're nine years old, Maggie," he sighed, leaning against the door frame of the small room. "This... whatever this is you think you're doing with your life; it's ridiculous! You can't expect me to always be there to save your skin because you're too weak to defend yourself."

"I'm not weak!" Maggie shrieked, and her brother froze.

He turned slowly, glaring at her with his sunken dark eyes. His face was drawn, pale and sickly looking. And furious.  
_  
"You would raise your voice at me?" he said, and his voice was so quiet and so threatening that Maggie immediately stiffened, caught like a rabbit in the headlights. She'd over-stepped the line. "You would defy your own flesh and blood?" he demanded, leaning down as he took a step closer. "I have done everything for you since father died. I've fed you, and clothed you, and put a roof over your head," he gestured to the shabby room they were sat in, "and you won't even do as I say!"_

Maggie swallowed, looking up at her brother with wide eyes. "I'm sorry, Damien, I didn't mean-"

"What are we, Maggie?"

She paused. "We're Murdoch's, Damien."

"And what do Murdoch's do?"

She lowered her head, picking at her fingers. "Kill vampires," she whispered.

"And why do we do that?"

"Because they're evil," she mumbled.

"Look at me," he demanded. "Look me in the eye and say it like you mean it."

She looked up, directly into his gaze. "Because you think_ they're evil."_

Damien raised an eyebrow. _"I _think_?"_

"You don't know everything, Damien. What if some of them are different? Father always said-"

She didn't even cry out as he backhanded her across the cheek.

"Enough! Enough of this madness!" Damien exclaimed, turning away again, his hands balled into fists. Maggie's eyes watered and her cheek stung. She quickly wiped away the tears before he could notice. "Dad's not here anymore! And I won't have you spouting this rubbish to me! Dad was a fool! He was a fool, do you hear me?"

She didn't answer, but she wanted to.

"The things that you're suggesting, they're what got him killed! It's not right. We are what's right!"

She swallowed, eyeing her brother hesitantly. She didn't dare say anything else. He looked down at her, curled up on the floor, and shook his head, looking disgusted.

"Look at you," he spat. "You're pathetic, and you're a coward. What good are you to me? You can't even kill a stupid vampire!"  
_  
"He... he was a kid..."_

"He was about to drain you dry," he said simply, and chucked a wad of clothes in her direction. "Now get dressed. We're going hunting."

Resigned to her duties of the day, Maggie rose to her feet and unravelled the clothes. She glanced at her older brother, her eyes wide.

"Can we make it quick this time?" she asked, almost pleadingly.

Damien snorted and turned away, wandering off into the next room.

"Now where's the fun in that?"

"Maggie? Maggie, wake up! Maggie!"

Maggie jolted upright in her bed, gasping for breath, disorientated and dizzy. One hand shot up to her head while the other reached out to steady herself.

"Are you alright?"

She turned to see Hal holding her arm steady, looking worried. She shook her head, jumping to her feet and pushing past him. She ran to the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind her, throwing herself at the toilet.

Hal reached the door just in time to hear her throwing up.

She emerged ten minutes later, having emptied her stomach completely, and staggered against the doorway.

"I'm sorry," she murmured. "I think last night's food disagreed with me."

Hal looked alarmed. "It wasn't bad, was it? Tom! Tom, get here!" he yelled over his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Maggie," he said, holding her upright by the tops of her arms and lowering his head to look her in the eye. "We should get you back to bed. Tom!"

"It's fine, it wasn't Tom's fault," she mumbled as he led her back to her room. "I should have known better."

"Known what?"

"My stomach isn't... isn't used to real food," she replied, dropping onto her bed. "I've been living off bread and cheese for the past decade."

"Well you could still do with a rest," Hal said sweetly, before turning to glare at the empty doorway. "Where is that godawful-"

Tom almost crashed into the doorway as he rushed into the room.

"Sorry, mate, was out in the garden. Alex had to come fetch me. Did you-" he caught sight of Maggie then and stopped mid-sentence. "What's wrong, Maggie? Are you sick?"

She shook her head, but Hal cut in. "She's fallen ill, Tom, and needs to spend the day in bed resting-"

"I'm fine," she grunted, and both of them turned to look at her. Her voice softened. "I'll be fine. I just... I just need some toast and a shower and I'll be right as rain." Her stomach growled. "Maybe not the toast, just yet."

"You're sure?" Hal asked. He still had his hand on her arm as she stood. Her legs wobbled beneath her, and she shivered, still dressed in only her sleeping shirt and shorts.

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure."

"Alright, now that's settled," Tom said, grinning. "Yer brekkie's on the table."

He rushed out of the room and thudded down the stairs. Maggie's leg wobbled again, and Hal's grip tightened around her arm. She glanced at him.

"Thank you," she said quietly. "I should get dressed now."

"Of course," he replied, with a polite nod of his head, and moved towards the door.

Maggie paused. "Why did you wake me?"

He stopped at the door. "You... you seemed to be having a nightmare. I thought the kindest thing to do would be to wake you."

She smiled down at her hands. "I meant what did you want? Why were you in my room?"

"Ah," he replied. "I wanted you to meet someone. He's downstairs."

"I'll be down in a bit."

He nodded, glancing around the room before he stepped out.

"Thank you, though. Again," she said awkwardly, scratching the back of her neck.

He looked puzzled. "What for?"

She smiled weakly. "Waking me."

* * *

Tom and Hal were arguing when she descended the stairs and entered the living room.

"No, Tom, I am telling you, that is not what happened. I was there, I saw it with my own eyes."

"But McNair said-"

"I promise you, we did not slaughter them!"

She paused at the table, listening intently.

"No, you only locked us up in cages and made us fight," Tom said grumpily.

Hal sighed. "I don't see what the big deal is, even if we had done those things. It wasn't you! It was 1923 for Christ's sake!"

"You're talking about Naan's Slaughter, aren't you?"

Hal turned, an eyebrow raised, looking impressed. "How did you know that?"

She scratched her neck. Naan's Slaughter was a main point in Murdoch history, and a mandatory lesson for Murdoch children. "Murdoch's have eyes and ears everywhere."

"But if I wern't born neither were you," Tom protested, frowning in confusion.

Maggie laughed. "No, but my great-great-grandfather was. And it's my understanding that the vampires were... being manouvered."

"How?"

Maggie squinted at Hal, suddenly unsure of her history now that she was in the prescence of an actual subject of her books. "They were being black-mailed, weren't they?"

"Yes!" Hal cried, turning back to Tom. "See? It wasn't what McNair thought." He glanced at Maggie again. "But how did you know about the blackmail?"

"Great-great-grandfather Lester was rather proud of that move of his," she said. "Plus, I've always liked history."

Hal's eyes widened. "Lester was your... Oh jesus, Maggie. I fear for your genes already."

"He was said to be a bit disturbed," she said carelessly, and shrugged as she sat at the table with them. "Now, where's this friend of yours?"

His name was Adam.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

"Hal, you didn't tell me she was hot," the teen vampire drawled, strolling in from the other room. Maggie raised an eyebrow questioningly at Hal, who rolled his eyes at Adam.

"Adam, enough. We need your help, but not enought that I won't throw you out if you over-step the line."

Adam raised his hands in mock-fear. "Ooh, touchy. Is she yours then?"

"I don't _belong_ to anyone," Maggie said as he took a the seat opposite her and shot her a cheeky wink. "Hal, really? In five hundred years you didn't make a single vampire friend who wasn't a pervert?"

"I'm not a pervert," Adam protested.

"How old are you?" she shot back.

"Forty-nine."

"That makes you a pervert."

"But he's 500 and something!" Adam cried, pointing a finger at Hal. "He's a bloody Old One!"

Maggie crossed her arms in front of her. "He's not the one staring at my chest."

Adam looked flustered, opening and closing his mouth as if he couldn't quite form words, until he got to his feet and grunted.

"I'm going for a smoke," he grumbled.

"Not in the house," Hal called after him.

As soon as the door slammed shut, Maggie began to giggle. Tom joined in, and Hal's mouth curled in the promise of a smile.

"You enjoyed that," he said.

"Serves him right," Maggie chuckled. "I mean, whatever happened to chivalry? Men opening doors and stuff, and being polite? I mean, I'm not even sure that's just a teenage boy thing anymore."

Hal snorted, nodding. "I assure you, that is most definitely a teenage boy thing."

"Prove it. Tell me one person you know who still does that stuff."

Hal and Tom glanced at each other, before turning to look at her.

"What? Both of you?"

"A lady should be treated proper," Tom said. "McNair always said a lady should be treated proper."

"Aw, that's sweet, Tom," Maggie replied. "Really sweet. Allison's lucky to have you."

Tom's face lit up at the compliment, and it made Maggie feel good. She turned to Hal.

"I once wooed a woman with a thousand tulips," he said.

"No?"

"Yes."

"And you think that's impressive?"

Hal frowned. "Well, yes. In this day and age, very much so."

Maggie shot Tom a look, and the werewolf sniggered, before nodding. "OK, OK, fair enough."

Hal squinted at them suspiciously. "What is so amusing?"

"You... you're just so proud," Tom sniggered. "Of some flowers. You need... _more._"

"I don't think I'd give in so easy," Maggie agreed, and Hal snorted.

"I'll have you know I have courted many women in my time, and you, Maggie Murdoch, would be no exception."

Maggie leaned back in her chair. "Oh, really. You think you could "woo" me? The vampire hunter?"

Tom snorted, and glanced up. "Sorry."

Maggie turned back to Hal, grinning. "Don't give me that look. Do you think you could woo me?"

Hal straightened, looking indignant. "Yes, if I wanted to."

Maggie laughed. "_'If I wanted to'. _That, Tom, is code for _'I'm chicken'_."

"I know," Tom agreed, grinning. "He's rubbish at chattin' up."

"No worse than you, Tom," Hal retorted. "_I like your tights, they look like bees, and I like bees_. What is that?"

"S'better than you. I've got Allison, what've you got?"

Hal opened his mouth to answer, but stopped, frowning. Tom and Maggie grinned at each other.

"I think that's code for _'You win', _Tom."

* * *

"So is he always like that?"

Tom glanced up from the TV. "Hal? Yeah, he don't like being told he's a chicken."

Maggie's mouth curled upwards in a smirk as Hal made a point of ignoring him. "No, I meant Adam. Is he always so... creepy?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"No worse than Emrys," Allison said bitterly from the other side of the sofa.

"Who's Emrys?"

"He were some old man Annie killed... by accident, of course," Tom explained. "But he weren't nice."

Allison made a sound of digust in the back of her throat, and Maggie said no more on the old man.

"But... is it normal for him to run off and hide? He's been sulking for hours. Shouldn't he be lurking about, hitting on someone?"

"You sound like you miss him," Hal said, glancing over the top of his book.

"Shut up, Hal," she retorted as she strode past, heading for the back door.

"I win," he murmured to himself, sounding pleased.

* * *

He looked sad, sitting on the back step all alone; like a lost child.

Adam didn't react as Maggie lowered herself onto the step beside him.

"Hey."

"Wondered how long it'd be before you came looking for me," he said somberly. "Could you make it quick?"

Maggie frowned. "Make what quick?"

He turned to look at her. "Tom told me what you are; what you _do_. I figured it was only a matter of time before you got me. I'd be surprised Hal was still around, if he weren't so... you know." He gestured to his face and jaw. "I'm not much to look at. Not really. Not really worth anything much."

"Adam, I'm not going to kill you."

"Not even worth the clothes on my back-"

"_Adam_," she repeated. "I'm not going to kill you."

He squinted at her, doubtfully. "You're not?"

"No. I've... I've stopped."

"You've just stopped? How does that work?"

She frowned. "I guess... I guess I don't need to anymore. I guess I've made friends here."

He raised an eyebrow, before turning away again, sighing. "That's too bad. I was sort of looking forward to it."

They sat in silence for a while, Maggie unsure how to handle this saddened vampire. When Tom was sad you gave him a hug, but she doubted Adam would appreciate that. Eventually, he spoke up.

"Hal was right to come find me," he said. "A few months back, I met some people. They've... uh... well, I think they're your people. I'll... I'll arrange a meeting and we can sort all this out... I'm sure it'll be fine when they realise you're with me."

She hugged him anyway.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

"So, can I ask, what exactly _is_ a Murdoch?"

Maggie looked up from the path the five of them followed. Allison, whom had insisted on coming, was walking behind them, with Tom at her side and Hal at her back, while Maggie and Adam led. The young vampire, who was now looking at her with nothing but curiosity, was taking them to see his "friends" about her brother.

"Um... we're a family, of sorts. A clan, if you will."

"A clan of werewolves, or of humans?"

"Of both," she said, shrugging. "Boys are turned at eight. Girls at nine, unless they're chosen to be the Mother."

"The Mother..."

"It's sort of like a bee hive. You have one female to mate with any suitable male until an heiress is born. She's turned at fourteen, to make sure..." Maggie made a face. "That everything works."

Adam looked at her questioningly. "An heiress?"

"Yeah. A girl who can grow up to be the next Mother. As soon as the chosen heiress is old enough to bare children, the current one retires."

A look of horror shot across his face. "Mothers are for...? But that would mean... Ugh!"

Maggie shrugged. "That's how it is. They wanna keep the blood-line pure."

"And what if you don't want to do it? What if you don't wanna "become the Mother", or even become a werewolf?"

"We don't _get_ a choice. That's why my dad took me away."

He shuddered. "That's not right. Even I wouldn't do that, and I'm disgusting."

Maggie snorted. "I never said Murdoch's were nice."

They walked in silence after that, Adam contemplating the grossness of this current revelation, and Maggie trying not to.

_"You'd make an awful pretty Mother, Maggie," he'd leer, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear; leaning in to whisper. "I almost don't want to wait..."_

She shuddered, and pushed the thought aside. He was gone. He didn't know where she was. He could never find her.

She was safe.

"Y'alright, Mag?" Tom asked, breaking into her thoughts, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You look a bit pale. Y'scared? You don't got to be frightened." His face brightened, and Maggie knew what was coming. "You could go back, take Allison with ya_. _Me an' Hal can do this, can't we mate?"

Maggie rolled her eyes, smiling up at Tom. "I'm not frightened, Tom. Besides, I don't think Allison plans on going anywhere."

They both looked round to see Allison, who was glaring defiantly at them, her arms holding her jumper tightly around her to fight off the cold.

"You've got that right."

Maggie grinned.

"You still shouldn't be here," Hal muttered. "You could barely stand this morning."

If she was being honest, Hal was right. She felt _awful_. Her head hurt like mad, and her vision was blurry, but it was just a cold or something, and she wasn't going to let a stupid cold stop her seeing her brother.

"Murdoch's don't get sick," she interjected, before he could talk himself into taking her back.

"Not while they're still human, no," he said, almost conversationally, and Maggie shot him a look.

This friend of his was sure well-informed.

* * *

"We're here."

"You lot should stay back," Hal said, looking up at the house Adam had led them to. The street was dark, the house silent. "They'll smell you out. It might make them... volatile."

"Sure. 'Course," Tom agreed, eager to keep Allison away from danger. "We'll wait out here for ya'. Just give me a shout if you need me, yeah?"

Hal nodded, and turned to follow Adam. Maggie fell into step beside them, before Hal stopped abruptly.

"Where are you going?" he demanded.

"I'm going with you. You're not leaving me to sit around out here feeling sorry for myself. Third-wheeling is the last thing I want to be doing right now."

"Maggie, you smell of werewolf, they'll kill you _on sight_."

Maggie rolled her eyes. "Take off your coat."

"What?"

"Take off your coat. Give it to me."

Scowling, Hal slid his coat off of his shoulders and handed it to her. She took a sniff, nodded approvingly to herself, and threw it on.

"What are you doing?"

"Take a whiff, Adam. Go on." He did. "What can you smell?"

"You smell of him," he replied, pointing a finger at Hal.

Maggie turned back to him, grinning. "See, problem solved. Not a wolf to be scented for miles."

Hal shook his head at her, but smiled all the same. "You are an odd one."

She shrugged, turning to head down the path. "I know. Now let's go, before I freeze to death."

"_You_ freeze?" he exclaimed, and followed.

* * *

The door creaked open and the floorboards groaned under Adam's heel as he led them inside. Maggie glanced back at Tom, who'd hidden himself and Allison behind some shubbery to stand watch, before following the vampires inside.

Hal was standing at the bottom of the stairs, surveying the bare hallway. "Why are they always empty?" he sighed.

Adam frowned. "Sorry?"

Maggie and Hal shared a glance. "If a vampire attacks me, try not to knock down the ceiling."

"Try not to get in the way."

Adam looked between the two. "What are you talking about?"

Maggie smirked. "It's nothing. A little deja vu is all." She looked around the hallway of the darkened house. "So where are these "friends" of yours?"

"Um, just in here," he said, pointing to a door down the hall and to the left. He stepped past her to close the front door, locking it behind him. Maggie glanced at Hal.

"Follow me," he said, hunched over as he led them down the hall. Hal gestured for Maggie to go ahead first, before following, eyeing the darkest corners of the room warily.

The door opened, and Adam held it open for Maggie to enter.

"He's in there."

She glanced at Hal, who nodded, almost imperceptibly, before entering.

Squinting through the dark, she reached back for the light switch.

"You lot sure do take your vampirism serious-Shit!"

Pain shot through her head as something struck her in the dark, knocking her to the ground.

"What the fuck, Adam?" she began, before something was being stuffed into her mouth, and Hal was on the floor beside her, fighting off some hidden beast lurking in the shadows.

"Hey, hey," Adam was protesting. "What are you doing? We never agreed to this."

"Oh shut it, leech. You're lucky I didn't stake you."

"But you said... you said you wouldn't hurt her! You weren't gonna hurt them!"

"What Vincent wants them for is none of your business," the stranger snarled, as Maggie's arms were yanked behind her and bound together.

"But that wasn't the deal-"

"I said _beat it_!"

Maggie looked up into the dwindling light by the door, to see two figures dragging Adam backwards.

"I'm sorry, Maggie!" He was shrieking. "I'm so sorry!" He turned to Hal. "They've got Yvonne. I had no choice. I'm sorry!"

And then they'd carried him off into another room, and slammed the doors shut.

* * *

_Cold metal on her skin, digging into her flesh, bleeding down her wrists. Damien's cool voice, suggesting she stop. Suggesting, not ordering, and the very observation sent fear shooting through her veins. Her heart was pounding, her nose stinging with some putrid stench she couldn't quite place. Petrol._

Petrol. What was the petrol for?

"I would stop now," he said, his voice like a knife, piercing through her. "You've proven your point."

But she couldn't stop. She had to get out. She had to save him.

"Now, it's time I proved mine."

A blood-curdling screech filled the room.

"Maggie, stop. Stop it."

She shrieked, tugging at the binds at her wrists, but they burned instead of bled, and it felt wrong.

"No, no, I have to get out! I have to save him!" She felt someone move behind her, tugging at her bindings. "No, Damien, I won't! Let me go! Stop!"

"Maggie-"

"Stop it!"

"_Maggie!_"

She froze, and for a moment she wondered if it was too late. Was this how it felt to be a Murdoch; a _true _Murdoch, where anyone who shared your blood could order you about, and you could do nothing but Obey?

It was a sickening thought.

But no, she was still human. She could see her legs out in front of her. Still very human. Murdoch's only Obeyed in wolf form.

She wasn't Obeying; she was just afraid.

"Maggie," the voice said again, softening, and she turned her head to get a better view. "Are you alright now? Stay calm, it's Hal."

Her heart seemed to start beating again, a wash of relief submerging her.

"I don't think I've ever been so glad to see a vampire in all my life," she said, twisting to see him. Why couldn't she turn?

"I wouldn't try too hard. You'll just hurt yourself," he said. "They've tied our hands together."

She peered down at them, as best she could through the gap between her arm and torso, and right enough, the rope was knotted tightly around four hands, not two.

"What happened? I don't..."

"It's fine, I'm working on getting us out. But tell me, are you alright?"

She squinted at the wall in front of her, but it was too dark to give her anything she could work with. "What?"

"You were screaming, Maggie," he said seriously. "Worse than usual. What is it?"

"Oh." She'd almost forgotten that just moments ago, she'd been sure Hal was about to make her do something horrible. Her head felt heavy, and foggy. "It was nothing. Just a dream."

Hal didn't hesitate to prod further. "You said Benny."

"I did?"

"Yes. He was your ghost-friend, wasn't he?"

She swallowed. "Yes."

He paused, and Maggie would've given anything to know what he was thinking in that moment.

"Maggie?"

"Yes, Hal?"

"What happened to him?" _  
_  
The silence seemed to drag on for an age, but Maggie's mouth had gone dry. She couldn't tell him. She couldn't tell _anyone_, but him least of all.  
Eventually she felt Hal's back shifting behind her, and his breath on her ear.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "Go to sleep now. Rest."

"I can't-"

"Nothing can hurt you, Maggie. They're only dreams."

"But-"

"I'm here. Now go to sleep. We'll figure out how to get out of here when you're rested."

* * *

Her head was much clearer when she woke, but the world seemed that much darker.

"Hal? Hal, are you awake?"

"Yes, I'm awake." He sounded exhausted.

"How long have we been here?"

"I don't know. A few hours, maybe? Less than half a day. There's a window over there, and I've not seen the sun yet."

"Half a day? But that's... that's..." she trailed off. "Do you think they'll find us?"

"I hope so," he replied quietly, knowing she meant Tom and Allison. "How are you feeling? Better now that you've rested, I hope."

For some reason, this made her giggle.

"You really are an odd vampire," she said.

"What do you mean?"

"You're so... gentlemanly. I've never met a gentlemanly vampire before."

He snorted, his sense of humour seeming to have returned. "You've never spoken with one long enough to say that," he replied. "I'd rather hoped that would have come in handy if we'd been attacked tonight."

"That's your fault," she said simply.

"And how did you come to that conclusion?" he teased.

She leaned back against him, sighing. "You made me soft."

He snorted, laughing a little. "I made you soft. That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. You're far from soft."

"I'm not certain I'm not enjoying it either," she mused, breathing deeply. "It's nice being nice. I think."

"It is, isn't it?" he replied, leaning against her too, and Maggie frowned, suddenly seeing similarities between them. Murdoch's thought they were better than vampires, but really they were all the same. How many of her victims, potentially, could have been completely innocent?

"Hal?"

"Yes?"  
"If we die..."

"Maggie, please..."

"No, just let me speak. If these vampires kill us, or Tom never comes, or for whatever other reason; if we die, I'm... I'm glad I met you."

He didn't answer for a long minute, and Maggie's head was suddenly churning out a million different, negative responses. Could she have been misinterpreting him this whole time?

And then she felt his fingers closing around hers.

"So am I," he said. "But just for the record, I have lived for over 500 years. I am _not_ dying here." He paused. "And neither are you. I promise."


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

Maggie coughed herself awake, and when her head finally cleared and she grew aware of her surroundings, she realised she was no longer upright, and her hands were no longer bound behind her.

She was shaking too, her teeth chattering together like a pair of maracas. And the sound was deafening, the chattering. It thudded through her her like a herd of buffalo.

She found her hands, instinctively tucked under her, and pushed herself into a sitting position. Her hands tingled.

"What is wrong with me?" she groaned, reaching up to put a hand to her forehead. "My head feels... _awful._"_  
_

"You're getting worse." She looked up to see Hal watching her, his hands pressed against the wall - no door - in front of him. "You've been falling in and out of consciousness for hours. For God's sake open this door!" He was banging on the door furiously, and Maggie cringed back, whining involuntarily at the pain shooting through her head. His head shot around.

"Oh, God, Maggie, I'm sorry."

"I don't remember..."

"You don't remember?"

"You said I was falling in and out of consciousness. I don't remember." She glanced up, to see he'd moved to stand in front of her. "Why don't I remember?"

"You said that last time. But you weren't screaming. Did you have any nightmares?"

"I don't think so..." She frowned. "I've been having nightmares?"

He nodded. "You call for your brother. You tell him to stop. And then, right before you wake, you... you..."

"I what?"

He crouched down in front of her. "You tell Benny you're sorry."

She averted her eyes, to the thin blanket wrapped around her. "Where did this come from?"

"There's a box over there," he said distractedly, pointing to the corner. "Nothing useful in it; just a blanket and a few bottles of water." He shook his head, squinting. "Maggie-"

"How long have we been here?"

He scratched his forehead. "Two days."

As if on cue, her stomach grumbled.

"Right, of course," Hal began, looking around the dark room. "You need to eat. But I've tried. They won't answer." He frowned. "But they can't let you die. If they were just going to let us rot in here they might as well have killed us on the spot. So why are they keeping us?"

"I thought you said I wasn't going to die," she uttered teasingly, but Hal didn't seem to realise. His head snapped around.

"You're not," he said sternly. "I made a promise, and I don't break promises, OK?"

"OK."

They both paused, Maggie picking the frayed fibres of the blanket, and Hal simply watching her worriedly, because she didn't seem to be getting any better.

"How do you forgive yourself for doing something terrible?" she said quietly, after Hal was quite sure his legs had gone to sleep beneath him.

"I'm... I'm not sure I'm the person to ask-"

"You've done horrible things," she said bluntly, looking him straight in the eye. "I know all about them. I've read the stories a hundred times, I've memorised all the different time periods where you showed up. And no one just drops out of history like that. Not like you."

"How do you-"

"The book I mentioned. That night you caught me in your room, and I'd messed up all your dominoes. It was my father's, and it's all about vampire history. You're in it. A lot."

"I am?"

"I read it every night before bed as a child. The first time you disappeared, I just assumed you'd gotten yourself staked. And the second, and the third. But you kept coming back. In the 1950's I figured you'd killed yourself. I thought, finally, that's the end of it. But clearly, I was wrong, because you're here. You're here, in Wales, with a werewolf for a best friend, and nothing makes sense. So how do you do it?"

He shook his head. "Maggie, if that's the case then you know what I have done, and you should know there is no way I can ever forgive myself for such horrifying, horrendous deeds. All I can do is prevent them from happening again, and hope the people around me are good and kind and will find it in their hearts to help me."

She sighed, looking down at the frayed blanket again. "I thought you might say that."

"It's true."

She paused.

"Why did you think I'd killed myself?"

"Something changed," she shrugged. "You left a recruit behind to carry on your work. Almost as if you knew you weren't coming back."

"Oh." He blinked, the guilt setting in again.

"Hal?"

"Yes?"

"I did a terrible thing once."

* * *

_Metal clinked on metal as Maggie shifted from side to side. The shackles around her wrists seemed to tighten with every move, cutting into her flesh, but she kept fighting. She couldn't stay. She'd rather break both wrists than stay._

Break both wrists...

She pulled against the chains, knocking the pipe she'd been chained to against the wall again and again. She tried again, this time harder, and cried out as the shackles cut deep into her hand this time, spilling blood. She wasn't giving in.

"I would stop now," a cold voice said from behind her. "You've proven your point."

She turned. "Damien, please. Please. Let me go! I've been good, I promise, I've been good."

"You need to learn, Maggie," her brother said, moving to the door, locking it behind him. "You need to learn to be a Murdoch."

Maggie's eyes widened as he turned back to her, the keys on his belt clinking together.

"Why did you lock the door?"

"I'll be sticking around, I think," he said casually, perching himself on the edge of a wooden table. "I have a job for you."

"But... but you can't, Damien. It's a full moon. You have to go. You have to let _**me **__go."_

"Well, the faster you do this job for me..."

She glanced at the windows; tiny, too high, and too dark.

"Anything, Damien, just let me go. Please."

He smiled crookedly at her. "I thought you might say that."

He stood then, and kicked something across the floor towards her.

A stake.

He opened a cupboard door she'd not noticed before, and a figure stumbled out, falling on all fours. Damien grabbed it by the shirt and held it up to the light. It whimpered. _**He **__whimpered._

Maggie was almost too stunned to speak.

"Benny?"

* * *

"He was human. Obviously," she told Hal, too ashamed to look him in the eyes. "He was someone I'd met at human school. He came looking for me, when I stopped showing up. When my dad was gone. And Damien took him, to punish me; to teach me a lesson."

Hal was speechless. "Maggie, that's horrific-"

"We argued with him. We told him Benny was only human. But I think he'd already... lost his mind. Eventually, when it became clear that Damien planned on ripping us to shreds if we didn't comply... Benny realised he was dying either way." She swallowed. "He told me to do it. Asked me to make it quick." She looked up at Hal, and felt hot tears spilling down her cheeks. "It wasn't. It was the longest night of my life. And the last of his."

She choked back a sob, and suddenly Hal's arms were wrapped tightly around her, squeezing her and pulling her into his chest.

"It's alright, Maggie. It wasn't your fault..." he whispered.

She wasn't sure how long they sat there in the dark, Maggie crying, Hal stroking her hair and whispering reassurances, only that she'd been feeling sorry for herself too long. Eventually, when she found the tears had dried up, she wiped her face and composed herself as best she could.

"I'm sorry," she muttered. "That was stupid."

"Really, it wasn't, Maggie," he said gently. "Although, I didn't know Murdoch's knew how to cry."

She snorted, looking up at him. "I didn't know you knew how to hug."

"Well, it was neccessary, I think." His arms were still around her, and she tried not to focus on how his breath tickled her neck.

"Yes, I think it was," she agreed, wiping at her eyes again. "Thank you."

She swallowed, trying desperately to come up with an excuse to leave this embrace, and finding she could come up with none.

"I... I sang to him... like his mother used to, to get him to sleep. Thought it might not hurt as much but... but..."

Hal's arm tightened around her, and she glanced up into his eyes.

"He stayed with me for a while. As a ghost. But then, one morning, he was just gone. I don't even know if he passed over or just... left me."

She took another deep breath, calming herself, taking comfort in Hal's embrace. He pulled her sleeve back, expecting her to pull away, but she didn't.

"Why do you look?" he said eventually, gently tracing a pattern along the scars on her wrist that now made sense. "For Damien. After what he's done to you?"

She looked up at him, taking his hand and squeezing it. "Because everything he's done to me, everything that's happened these past few years... I can't let them happen to someone else. I can't just let him loose on the world. It's not right."

She felt a hand on her face, and realised he was tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, gazing at her with a look she'd seen only once before.

"You're not his mother."

"No. I only _killed_ her," she said.

"She died in childbirth, Maggie."

Maggie sighed, and pulling herself together, she pushed herself to her feet.

"What are you doing?" Hal asked, looking slightly alarmed as her legs wobbled beneath her.

"Well I'm not just sitting around here all day." She looked him up and down. "You look awful. Go take a nap or something."

"I'm fine," he insisted. "But there's no point. The door's sealed and there's only one window," he said, gesturing. "We're not breaking out of here."

"Why hasn't Tom come for us?" she mused, completely ignoring Hal's sudden pessimistic view of the situation as she ran a hand along one of the rough walls. "Normally he'd have come in after us, after a few hours at least. He wouldn't have been able to help himself..."

"I don't know," Hal sighed, rubbing at his eyes, which had bags under them. "Maybe he thought it safer to take Allison away from all this-"

"Unless he _did _come in after us," she said, glaring at Hal to emphasise her words. "And he's been captured."

"He's still no use to us locked up!"

A strange smile twitched at the corner of Maggie's mouth. "But he's here. That's a start."

* * *

"I do hope Adam's alright."

Hal looked up from the corner where they'd stashed the blankets, eyebrows raised in surprise.

"What?" Maggie demanded, sitting against the opposite wall with her legs crossed neatly in front of her. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You're worried about him," Hal observed. "Six weeks ago you would have staked him, no questions asked."

She shrugged. "It was more my brother's way of thinking. At first it made sense, what with them killing my dad but... not all leeches are the same, I guess."

She frowned to herself.

"What is it?"

She looked up at him, her head tilted to the side. "They called him leech."

"Who?"

"The others. The ones who ambushed us."

"And?"

Maggie slowly got to her feet, thoughts stumbling about and tripping over one another in her head. "A vampire wouldn't call another vampire a leech..." she looked at Hal, her eyes widening. "A werewolf would."

"Very clever, Maggie, very clever."

The two of them turned to see a figure standing in the darkened doorway, both strange and familiar.

"It's been a while," he said.


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

Maggie held back a shudder, and bit down the urge to run into the arms of the vampire for safety, for the man in front of her was so, _so _much worse than any man who may simply suck the life from her veins.

He was rougher than she remembered, but somehow... groomed. And somehow this monster was her blood.

His short brown hair fell over his face, his pale skin almost glowing in the darkened room as he tilted his head to the side, his mouth stretching into a wretched smile that radiated a smugness only he was capable of.

But the eyes were the worst, the horrid, yellow eyes that bore into her, and made her skin crawl. They lay heavily on her, reminding her of heavy hands and hot breath. Unwanted attention.

"Vincent."

Hal was on his feet in seconds, his eyes shifting between Maggie and the stranger uncomfortably. Vincent barely noticed, his eyes on Maggie only.

"Sister. I've brought lunch. Thought you might be hungry."

He tossed something onto the ground in front of her, and she glanced down so see the raw meat, lying in a pool of it's own blood. The stench stung her nostrils.

"That's not what I am," she said, breaking their gaze as she tried not to gag, and kicking herself for being so weak. "And that's disgusting." Vincent simply chuckled.

"I've missed that," he mused, gesturing to someone behind him. Maggie swallowed as Gareth and Michael entered from behind him, approaching Maggie as Vincent did. Vincent had always been too "pretty" to be a wolf, slim, with dark hair and a functioning brain. Gareth and Michael, though they were Vincent's younger brothers, were large, and dirty and scarred. Stereotypical Murdochs. "That fire that burns inside you. _I'm glad I waited."_

Suddenly, realising what was happening, Hal lunged forward at him, sending a cracking shot across Vincent's jaw before the larger of Vincent's body guards, Gareth, spun around, punching him square in the stomach.

Hal keeled over, spluttering as the werewolf took him by the throat, pinning him to the wall.

"You don't touch her," he gasped, glaring at Vincent as best he could with the werewolf's hand around his throat. The hand tightened.

Maggie shot across the room, and no one stopped her.

"Put him down!" she yelled, hitting Gareth helplessly. "Now!"

"Oh, fond of this one, are you?" Vincent teased. "You really are your father's daughter, aren't you?"

"Just put him down, _now_."

"Gareth."

Vincent jerked his head and the Murdoch dropped Hal, who stumbled back against the wall, clutching his throat. Maggie shoved past him to stand beside Hal.

"Are you alright?" she murmured, quiet enough that Vincent couldn't hear. He nodded, righting himself, and they turned back to Vincent.

"What do you want, Vincent?" Maggie demanded. "Why have you brought us here? Why did you need to trick Adam into helping you, for heaven's sake?"

Vincent chuckled, pulling something from his pocket that glinted in the minimal light coming from outside. A knife. "So many questions, sister. I'll need time to answer them-"

"Cut the crap, Vincent."

He blinked in surprise, before a slow grin replaced it as he twirled the knife in his hands. "Well, it's a bit of a pointless question, isn't it? You know the answer as well as I do."

Maggie sighed. "How did you find me?"

Vincent took a step forward, and Maggie felt Hal tense up beside her. She moved to stay his hand, taking hold of his wrist.

"You may have been in hiding, Maggie, but I know the signs. Entire vampire clans don't just vanish over-night." She cursed under her breath, and he sauntered closer, lifting her chin with the crook of his finger so she was forced to look him directly in the eye, the knife strategically placed inches from her throat. "You've been busy."

"So why all the theatrics? Why all this? Why not just snatch me in the night; get it over and done with? Why involve _them_?" she demanded, and he knew who she meant.

"The same reason I do anything, Maggie. Because it's _fun_." He turned swiftly and returned to the side of his vacant-eyed brothers, slipping the knife back into his belt. "I was gonna take this one out before I did anything else," he said, gesturing towards Hal with a nonchalant expression. "I thought, if anything, the little one might have tugged at your heart-strings, but this one was just calateral damage. I suppose he can go last, now, if you're so fond of him."

"No one has to _go_, Vincent. I can't give you what you want."

Vincent turned suddenly, and with three swift steps had imposed himself on Maggie, his nose inches from hers. "You can," he snapped. "And you _will_. It is your duty, Maggie, as a Murdoch, to carry on the-"

"I'm not a Mother!" she cried, hunching up and flinching away, as if she was expecting a blow.

He didn't hit her, and Hal was glad for it, for he feared he'd have to go another round with Gareth if he had.

He stepped away, looking Maggie up and down.

"You're all that's left, Maggie. Our family will die out. Surely you see what you must do?"

"We're not family," Maggie said under her breath, and it sounded almost like a mantra to Hal.

"We were both born of Aleya, were we not?"

"Don't speak her name," Maggie spat, her eyes snapping up to glare at him. "She may have carried you for nine months, but she was my mother, and my mother only."

The werewolf took another step closer, and Maggie swallowed.

"You know that's not true. I was her first born."

"Damien was her first, and I was her last." Maggie blinked as she looked up at him. "She loved us."

"Now, now, let's not get ahead of ourselves," he murmured, leaning forward to run a finger along Maggie's jaw. Hal's hands tightened into fists. "Why don't we take this out side, somewhere more comfortable?" he said gently. "If you're good, I might even let you keep your pet."

In one swift movement, Gareth had hold of Hal, his arms yanked behind him, and Vincent had swung an arm around Maggie, leading them out of the room.

* * *

"She's a stupid girl... a stupid, stupid... _human!_" Alex shrieked, pacing back and forth in the living room. "And he's a stupid vampire for letting it get this far, and he's a stupid werewolf for starting it all! Where the fuck are they?"

She stopped in her tracks, looking around the empty room.

Great. She was talking to herself now. Brilliant.

It was true though. She didn't understand Maggie. She was _human_, so why get involved in all this... _madness_?! She had a choice for goodness sake!  
What Alex wouldn't give for that choice...

It wasn't that she hated _Maggie, _it was just... it was just...

Well it wasn't the way Tom spoke about her; like a little sister, and lit up whenever she came into the room.

It wasn't the way Hal looked at her. And it definitely wasn't the way he'd dropped absolutely _everything _to go on this stupid search for her brother. Frankly, Alex was starting to think this Damien character was completely made up.

She definitely wasn't jealous. No.

It was the danger, she decided. Ever since Maggie had arrived, there'd been nothing but trouble. She had to keep her friends safe.

And they'd been gone almost three days now.

"Shit."

She supposed it was up to her to save their sorry butts after all.

* * *

The first thing she noticed were the cages.

The second was the people in them.

"You can't keep them in cages, Vincent!" Maggie protested as Tom and Allison got to their feet, moving to press themselves against the wire fences of the cages. "They're your kind."

Vincent chuckled, shaking his head as he walked her past them. She glanced back, sending Tom an apologetic look. "They're as much my kind as a Yorkshire terrier."

"Vincent-"

"We're above them, Maggie. We're above them all."

"Then let them go. You don't need them."

He pulled Hal's coat from Maggie's back and sat her down in a chair then, ignoring her pleas. Adam emerged from a side door, and Vincent threw the coat at him.

"Burn it," he said.

"But Yvonne... You said..."

"I said if you do as I say!" Vincent spat, "and I _might _return your girlfriend to you. Now," he turned back to Maggie, leaning towards her, his hand on the arm rests. She heard Hal grunt from beside her, and turned to see him struggling with Gareth.

"Don't."

Vincent's eyes swivelled around to Hal.

"He's not the cleverest, is he?" he mocked. "Does he know? Does he know what you are?"

"He doesn't know anything," Maggie said suddenly, turning to glare at Hal. "You're right, he's an idiot."

"Maggie-"

"But he's an idiot I can deal with."

"Because you've been doing so well up until now."

"Yup, brilliant. Now let me by," she said casually. Hal frowned, turning to stare at her. She didn't sound frightened anymore.

Maggie looked back at Vincent, a disapproving look on her face. "You _have _spoken with Damien, right?"

Vincent laughed. "Good one, sister. As if anyone knows where he is."

Maggie frowned. "He was supposed to find you. He was supposed to explain it to you. That was the plan."

Vincent frowned, taking a step back. "What plan?"

Maggie rolled her eyes, getting to her feet. "You're telling me you just barged in here, and risked ruining _everything_, because you're too ignorant to see what's happening here?" She gestured at Hal. "He's a fucking Old One!" she hissed. "Do you know what that means?"

Vincent blinked, and scowled at Hal. "Why the fuck isn't he dead already?"

Maggie sighed dramatically. "Are you _really _that stupid? Really?"

Hal was staring at Maggie disbelievingly as Vincent scratched his head.

"He's an Old One. He can _fix us."_

Vincent scowled. "I'm not stupid, sister."

"You'd think, from the way you're acting," Maggie grunted, and something shot through Hal's chest. He winced. "Gareth, release him. Let him stand on his own."

The voice coming from her was the voice of a leader taking charge.

"Maggie-"

"Oh, shut _up_..." Maggie rolled her eyes. "Five hundred years old, and you _still _can't take a hint. Nobody cares, Hal."

Gareth let go of Hal, who staggered forward to stand before Maggie.

"How do I know you're not lying?" Vincent said, squinting at Maggie. She looked over her shoulder at him and laughed.

"Vinnie... you know me," she said, sauntering towards him, and something about her walk reminded Hal of the yellow-eyed wolf. "You know I'm good at what I do."

Grabbing hold of the wolf's chin, Maggie kissed him roughly, using the belt loops of his jeans to pull him against her briefly, before pushing him away again.

"You were... always good," he agreed. "Perfect."

"Good," Maggie said, letting go of Vincent's face. She turned back to Hal. "Now that that's cleared up, can we get to what's really important?" She turned, squinting at Tom and Allison in their cage. "What were you planning on doing with them?"

"We were gonna kill them," Vincent said, looking a little dazed.

"I want to keep them."

He frowned. "You can't. They're not like u-"

Maggie spun to glare at him. "You have Gareth and Michael," she snapped. "I want my own. Wolves without any... alterior motives for keeping me safe."

"Of course, Maggie. Anything for The Mother," he said, lowering his head. "Michael!" he hissed, and the second wolf hastily rushed to the cage.

"Whatever you think I know," Hal piped up suddenly, glaring determinedly at Maggie, despite the sting of betrayal in the pit of his stomach. "You're wrong. I can't help you. You might as well kill me now."

Maggie looked at him for a moment, before bursting into a cackle. Hal couldn't help wondering if this was what he looked like on one of his bad cycles.

"That was the plan anyway," she said, shrugging. "It's your blood we need. So I guess... I guess everyone's happy."

"I'm not," a voice murmured, and Maggie turned. Adam stood at the edge of the room.

Vincent moved to strike him. "I'll sort thi-"

"Stop," Maggie ordered, holding up a hand. Vincent froze, glancing at her. "Allison?"

"Yes... Mother," Allison said, bowing her head a fraction, the hesitance in her voice barely noticable. Tom and Hal both turned to stare at her in astonishment.

"Take the boy away," Maggie said.

"And do what with him?"

Maggie reached into her pocket and pulled out a stake, tossing it carelessly in Allison's direction.

"Whatever you see fit," she said pointedly.

Allison moved to take hold of Adam, Tom following behind, trying to pull her back.

"Allison, Allison! What are you doing? This ain't right!"

Michael yanked Tom back by his coat, and Allison turned slowly.

"I'm sorry Tom. It's survival," she said, before disappearing out of the room with Adam.

Tom turned to Maggie, his eyes blazing with anger. "You monster! I trusted you!"

"Yes, yes, I'm sure this is all very disappointing for you," Maggie sighed, turning her attention away from him and back to Hal. She strolled towards him, a smirk on her face. "But I have work to do."

She patted Hal on the cheek patronisingly.

"Now, how to kill you..." she mused.

"You sound like me..." Hal whispered. Somehow, he had to talk her out of this madness. "You don't want to be like me."

She leaned towards him to whisper in his ear.

"Yes. I do sound like you, don't I? I'm rather clever."

He frowned, not understanding, when he felt her press something into his hand. He glanced down, to see Vincent's knife between their interlocked fingers, snatched during the kiss.

"Gareth's right hand is weakest. It's been broken several times," she murmured, glancing at the lumbering beast stood behind Hal.

"How do you-?"

"I watch," she said quickly. "And I mimic. Rather well, don't you think?" She raised an eyebrow, and Hal tried his best not to let Vincent see his smile.

"Splendidly," he said.

She nodded, letting go of the knife. "Good luck."

She turned away from him. "Tom," she said clearly, walking purposefully towards Vincent. "Michael is partially blind in his left eye. Use it to your advantage."

Hal spun on his heel then, plunging the knife deep into the left side of Gareth's rib-cage, and catching the right handed counter-blow aimed in his direction. Tom turned to see Michael lunge for him, barely dodging out of the way in time. Shock and rage exploded through Vincent and he cried out as he reached for his knife.

"Looking for that butter knife of yours?" Maggie teased. "I'm afraid I let my friend borrow it." She shrugged. "Oh well. Guess your soft little baby hands will just have to do."

"You _bitch!" _Vincent shrieked, and lunged for her.

She dodged the attack quickly, falling into a crouch and spinning on her heel, her right leg extended, tripping Vincent as he ran. He flew through the air, scraping his face along the stone floor. She jumped to her feet, ready to attack again, when she heard Tom cry out.

"Maggie! Maggie, watch out!"

She turned to see Michael thundering towards her, and dived out of the way, but he caught her by surprise, turning at the last second to catch her, sending her flying with a fist to the stomach.

She felt a skull-splitting pain shoot through her as she landed, and opened her eyes to a world of coloured splodges and bright flashes of light.

"Are you alright?" Tom asked, and she could see he was next to her, holding out a hand to help her up. She took it, turning to find Michael and Hal throwing punches.

Hal was losing.

"I can't fucking see!" she hissed, but not seeing wasn't an option. Where was the knife? Hal wasn't using it.  
She glanced around, searching the ground beside her. A few metres away, the knife lay, as if it had been knocked across the room. She scurried over to it, gripping it tightly.

Desperately trying to stop the shaking, she held it up over her head.

It was time. She could do it. She wouldn't miss this time.

Tom cried out as Maggie hurled the knife across the room, sending it shooting towards the ever-shifting muddle of Hal and Michael.

She held her breath.

Hal froze as Michael slumped to the ground before him, the knife deep in his temple. He turned to stare at Maggie in awe.

"You did it," Tom murmured, staring at the now dead wolf.

"Ten years too late, Tom," she said, numb. "Ten years too late."


	11. Chapter 11

**So this is (technically) the last chapter of Breaking The Trend, and I hope you've enjoyed it, but since it ends in a very open way, I'll tell you all now there will, at some point, be a smaller second part, named Falling Into Step. It's not done yet, but if you liked this story and Maggie, she'll be back very soon.**

**Also, reviews are VERY MUCH welcome and appreciated :)**

**So enjoy. And thanks for reading/reviewing.**

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Maggie was almost sure she was dreaming when she saw the hut again. It was dark by the time they'd reached it, and for a moment she just stood, looking at it.

"We can stay here for a while," she told Hal. "While we figure out what to do."

He nodded. "We can't go back to the house, I suppose. And we do need a place to regroup in the middle of all this Murdoch warfare."

"Murdoch warfare..."

Hal eyed her warily. "Yes. That's what I just said."

"No, I mean... the book!" she said excitedly. She turned and looked at him, smirking. "My brother would have me shot for leaving it for so long. It's practically the Murdoch Bible," she said, and disappeared round the hut.

"I think your brother needs to sort out his priorities," he said, following quickly, and almost walking into her. "What the...?"

The door had been kicked in, and was barely hanging on by it's hinges. Inside, they could see overturned furniture and ripped up sheets. Maggie was frozen in front of the door.

"Maggie, are you alright?"

"They found me."

"What? Who?"

"I should have known. If Vinnie-Vincent-could find me... he must have found this place first. He must've tracked me from here."

"They've been here?" Hal looked determined, gripping her arm. "Come on, we're going."

"No."

"Maggie, they _hurt _you. They want to take you away. I'm not going to let them do that."

"I need to get it."

"What? No. I'll come back for it later."

"We're here, Hal. They're not. It's fine."

"But if they've been here before, they'll come back. They'll come back, and they'll try to take you!"

"Vincent's on his own now, Hal. He won't come looking for a fight he knows he can't win."

With a sudden gust of determination she strode into the hut, Hal surveying the clearing outside before following her inside.

"Ugh," he said, wrinkling his nose. "They smell _awful. _Why do they smell so bad?"

"They're inbred," Maggie stated, focussing her attention on a chest of drawers with the drawers yanked out and strewn across the room. "All inbred. Every single one. I'm surprised you didn't notice it before."

He snorted. "You don't smell like that," he said, without really knowing why. "You smell rather nice."

She glanced up at him from beside the bed, looking puzzled. He suddenly wished he'd kept his opinions to himself.

"I'm not a wolf yet," she said plainly. "Come and help me with this, will you?"

He moved to her side and took the bedframe from her hand, grunting as he raised it high enough for her to slip under. Her shirt slid up her side as she reached forward, pawing at the floorboards, exposing a long jagged scar, running from her hip up her ribcage, and back under her shirt. He frowned, averting his eyes, to instead focus on _not _dropping the bed on her head.

He heard her pounding on each floorboard in turn, before a dull _thunk _and a hiss told him she'd found what she was looking for.

She emerged from under the bed a moment later, rubbing her cheek as anger flared in her eyes. He dropped the bed, trying his best not to snigger as he crouched down to her level.

"What's so funny?" she demanded, narrowing her eyes at him. He choked back laughter.

"Do you... do you often find yourself attacked by floorboards?"

"Shut up," she snapped, punching him on the shoulder, but there was a hint of a smirk on her face as she plonked herself down on the bed. "I'll have you know, floorboards are _devious_ creatures, and worthy opponents of a Murdoch."

"Is that so?" he teased, when his eyes fell on the thick, dusty, leather-bound book sat in her lap. "Is that... is that it?"

"Yup," she said, sounding almost... satisfied, as if the book would solve everything. "Everything a Murdoch ever needs to know."

"You said... you said I was in there," he said, hesitantly sitting by her on the bed. She looked at him gravely.

"You are."

"Could I... could I see? Just the parts about me, of course." Her entire opinion of him was based on what was written in that book, and Hal had a sudden longing to know; a _need_, almost.

She glanced down at the book on her lap and frowned.

"I don't think you'd like to," she said quietly, suddenly avoiding eye-contact, picking at a corner of the tattered old book.

"It's not that bad, surely," he said lightly, suddenly wanting her to look up, to look at him.

She didn't look up, only fingered the books edges.

"Where do you think Adam and Allison are?" she said eventually, still looking at the book.

"I couldn't tell you, Maggie, but I'm sure they're fine. Tom won't be long in finding them."

She glanced up. "I hope so. How's your face?"

In truth, he'd forgotten all about Paul's ape-fists. "It's fine. I'm fine."

"Let me see," she said, putting the book to the side and reaching over to push his hair from his face.

"That was some acting, back there," he said conversationally, trying to distract himself from the electricity her gentle fingertips sent through his body.

"Um... thanks?" she said, sounding doubtful. "I think. I feel really bad about it."

"It got us all out, didn't it?" he replied. "It worked. It's fine."

"I get the feeling Tom didn't just leave to find Allison though..."

Hal shrugged. "He'll get over it eventually. He's just a little... surprised at it all. You put Allison first, he'll come to see that soon enough." He paused. "How did you do it?"

"Allison was curious. She wanted to know... what they wanted me for. So I told her. It was weeks ago! I said that as the Mother I had power over the whole pack. They had to do everything I said. And when I ordered her to take Adam away, I hoped she understood."

"You never mentioned they were even looking for you."

She shrugged. "I never expected them to find me."

He shuddered.

"Are you alright?" she sounded alarmed, watching his face carefully.

"Yes, I'm fine, I told you."

She raised an eyebrow, smirking doubtfully at him. "I'll be the judge of that."

She examined his face for a minute, sending shivers up Hal's spine as she pushed his hair back and traced his dirt covered brow and jaw.

"I don't even know why I'm doing this," she mumbled. "Habit, I guess. I'm not even sure vampires can _be_ hurt. They didn't bleed on you, did they?" she asked, looking up at him. He smiled down at her.

"I don't think so, no."

They looked at each other for a moment, and for that moment the whole world seemed to go silent. Maggie's hands were still in Hal's hair, and she could feel his breath on her face.

Without thinking she leaned forward, pressing her lips to his in a deep kiss as her hands delved further into his hair, and his arms wrapped themselves around her waist.

A cough came from across the room.

Jumping from his lap as faster than she'd thought possible, Maggie turned to see Alex stood by the door. Hal let out an embarrassed laugh as Maggie felt her cheeks grow hot.

"I'm all for this," Alex said. "But now's hardly the time."

* * *

Tom was sitting on the grass outside, huddled over something Maggie couldn't see. Adam stood beside him, clutching his arm, which was covered in painful looking burns.

Where was Allison?

And then Tom lifted his head. His sobs were almost silent now, but the tears still ran freely down his cheeks, and Allison lay still in his arms.

She wasn't breathing.

"I'm sorry," Adam was saying, and he was crying too. "I tried, I really did. But he bled on me! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"

"Oh God," Maggie whispered as Hal rushed to Tom's side.

"Who did? Who killed her?" he was asking.

"He must've slipped owt when we was fighting the others..." Tom was sobbing. "And now... he's killed her."

"It was Vincent," Adam said, cradling his burnt arm. "He came out of nowhere. There's was nothing I could do."

Maggie eyes widened, and Hal turned to look at her.

"What have I done?" she whispered, and Hal turned away again.

A shiver ran up Maggie's spine.

"I want you gone," Alex hissed, so quietly that only Maggie could hear. She swallowed, not daring to look back at the ghost at her shoulder. "I want you out of my home and away from my friends before you hurt anyone else. As soon as this is over, you make your excuses and leave, or I will make your life a _living hell_. Am I clear?"

"Yes," she said quietly. "But just so you know, Alex, I never meant for this to-"

"Shut up!" Alex snapped. "I don't want to hear your excuses!"

Maggie turned slowly to look back at her. "I really am sorry. For everything."

* * *

Tom held Allison a funeral, and buried her beside McNair, but Maggie knew it would be wrong to stay and watch. It would only hurt Tom more if she was present. So she left them to bury their friend in peace, and found a spot she wouldn't disturb them.

She was a coward really, if she allowed herself to admit it. She couldn't face Tom. She was too afraid to see the hatred in his eyes.

Hal came to find her soon after Allison was buried.

"Hey," he said gently, lowering himself down onto the grassy hill next to her. He knew instantly why she'd boycotted the funeral from the look on her face, so he changed the question. "What brings you out here?"

Maggie looked up at the dark night sky, dotted with twinkling stars and sighed. She'd dealt with guilt before. It was unbearable, and it never dulled.

"I'm leaving in the morning, Hal," she said with a heavy heart.

He frowned. "You don't have to go anywhere. You... you don't have to go because of Allison! Maggie, that wasn't your fault. You can stay as long as you like."

She laughed to herself. "I'm not leaving because I _feel_ I have to," she said reassuringly, putting a hand on his arm. "I'm leaving because I really do have to."

"Damien?"

"I've been here long enough. All the commotion has distracted me from why I came here in the first place. It's time for me to go. Before I hurt more people."

He turned to look her in the eye. "But I don't want you to leave."

"I'll come back," she said quickly. "I promise I'll come back, as soon as I find him."

_As soon as it's safe. When Vincent is dead._

Hal looked uncomfortable as he spoke. "Let me come with you."

She shook her head. "No, Hal. You belong here, with your friends. They need you, and you need them. Now more than ever."

_Now that I've gotten Allison killed._

Hal didn't look convinced. "What I need is _you_."

Maggie shook her head, lifting her hand to touch his cheek. "It wouldn't be fair to Tom and you know it. You have my word. I'll come back."

_I can't take away his girlfriend _and_ his best friend.  
_

"You'll tell him I'm sorry, won't you? Tell him I wish him well."

He took her hand from his cheek and held it in both of his. She felt him press something cold and flat into her palm. She looked down into her open palm.

"No, Hal, I can't-"

"Take it," he said, closing her fingers around the domino.

"Why?" _Monsters don't deserve gifts._

"So you don't forget to come back to me," he said sadly.

She smiled, reaching up to kiss him quickly. "Like I could forget."


End file.
